Jim Field Archives - Ivy's Library

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Jim Field

Fri
30 ^th

The Whale Who Wanted More
by Rachel Bright & Jim Field

Humphrey the whale is never quite satisfied. He glides through the ocean with his many possessions strapped to his back, always on the look out for the next new thing to capture his attention. However, no matter how many treasures he amasses, he always wants more.

Driven by his desire to consume, Humphrey lives a lonely and dissatisfied life until one day he spots a reef which is bursting with colour and life. There are so many shiny, fun things – surely this is what he has been looking for? He circles above, constructing a plan.

Unbeknownst to him, the creatures who live below are also unhappy. Instead of seeing the beauty of their magical surroundings they bicker and shout at each other, jostling for space amongst the coral. They’re too busy being grumpy to notice the covetous whale start to swim down towards them…

Sun
08 ^th

Rabbit & Bear: Rabbit’s Bad Habits
by Julian Gough & Jim Field

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It’s time for another chapter book review and this one is the first in a fab series which will have your kids laughing out loud!

Bear wakes up early from hibernation to discover that someone has sneaked in to her cave and stolen all of her food. How rude! But Bear is a ‘glass half full’ kind of girl so she decides to make the most of her early start by building a snowman.

Whilst rolling the snow into a suitable shape she encounters a rabbit who doesn’t quite share her joyful view of the world. Rabbit is grumpy and he wants everyone to know about it. Rabbit has never built a snowman but he knows that if he did it would definitely be better than Bear’s!

As the two busy themselves on their creations they start to talk and Rabbit gives Bear a rundown on how awful it is to be a bunny. He even lets slip that he has to eat his own poo!

Fri
11 ^th

Oi Aardvark!
by Kes Gray & Jim Field

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If you’ve been following us a while you’ll know we are huge fans of the Oi Frog & Friends series from genius duo Kes Gray and Jim Field. We have all the books in the series and Ivy literally jumped for joy when the latest was delivered to our door.

A quick recap in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years and haven’t encountered these joyful stories before… Frog, Cat and Dog are 3 friends with a penchant for rhyme and a slightly unhealthy preoccupation with seating arrangements. Cat started the trend in book 1 (Oi Frog!) when she insisted that frogs can only sit on logs then Frog took up the baton in book 2 (Oi Dog!) and has been a tiny bit obsessed ever since.

Sun
05 ^th

Monsieur Roscoe On Holiday
by Jim Field

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I studied French at university so I am really keen for Ivy to learn some basic words and phrases whilst she is small. This brand new book from Jim Field – his first as both author and illustrator – is absolutely perfect for that!

Monsieur Roscoe is a friendly little dog with a pet goldfish called Fry. The pair are about to set off on the holiday of a lifetime to visit some friends, but first they have to pack. As they throw all of the things they need in to a suitcase we see that each one is labelled on the page in both French and English. This continues throughout the book, giving your child the opportunity to learn lots of new French words.

Once packed they say goodbye to their friends and set off on their adventure. They get stuck in traffic on the way to the train station, which gives us the opportunity to learn the words for different kinds of vehicles and the names of the many shops they pass.

Thu
03 ^rd

Oi Puppies! by Kes Gray & Jim Field

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We are massive fans of this zany series so when the newest book – Oi Puppies! – arrived, Ivy was bouncing off the ceiling.

Frog, Dog and Cat are back to discuss the important issue of where everyone should sit, but this time they have a slight problem. Dog is babysitting a zillion puppies and they just won’t behave. They clamber all over Dog, hang from Cat’s whiskers and even start chewing on poor Frog’s swimming trunks.

Something needs to be done, so Frog gets on the phone to the wonderfully named ‘Oi Animal Seating Supply Co.’ to try and arrange some suitable ‘chairs’.

Mon
11 ^th

Ivy’s Guest Book: Lucie Gray, Owner, Paper Aeroplane Creative

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hullo, I’m Lucie. I live with my partner Mark and two children, Eloise 4 (& the all important 3/4) and Oliver 2. We live in Keynsham, a town squeezed between Bristol and Bath. I’m a packaging and branding designer.

What are your children’s favourite books?

Oliver’s favourite book is ‘Ten Little Pirates‘ by Mike Brownlow and Simon Rickerty. Each pirate peril is met with an “Oh NO!” and we are guaranteed an arm swooshing “Arrrrr” at the end followed by “again Mummy!”

It’s really hard to pin Eloise down to just one favourite book, she won’t go to bed without at least an armful to read, but at a push it would be something written by Julia Donaldson. She knows them off by heart and can be regularly heard reading them to her favourite soft toy, Rosie.

Mon
04 ^th

Ivy’s Guest Book: Jaclyn Townshend, Owner, Lingotot Gravesend

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

Hello! My name is Jaclyn and after having my son in April 2016 I left my Facilities Manager role in London and I now run Lingotot Gravesend. I live in Hoo in Kent with my husband and our son Finn who is 2.5, and we love to travel to see my parents who live in rural Spain. I’m part of a book club who meet monthly and I love to read, sadly I don’t have as much time as I used to when I used to commute to London and had hours to read, but I now enjoy reading with my son who loves to sit down with a new book and read it over and over (and over…) again!

What is your son’s favourite book?

Finn’s current favourite is Oi Frog! By Kes Gray & Jim Field – it’s a hilarious rhyming story about a frog who discovers that all animals have their special places to sit. Finn loves saying the relevant rhyming word to the animal (i.e. cats sit on mats, foxes sit on boxes) and he’s learnt lots of new words as a result. There are lots of different animals in the series and I can’t wait to get more books for us to read.

Sat
05 ^th

Oi Dog! by Kes & Claire Gray and Jim Field

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Oi Dog! is the second title in the zany ‘Oi Frog and Friends’ series. There are currently four books and we love each and every one!

If you’ve read book one – Oi Frog! – you’ll know that these bonkers tales are about a peculiar set of rules which dictate where an animal can sit. In the first story we met Cat, Dog and Frog. Cat explained that animals are only allowed to park their bums on things which rhyme – so cats sit on mats, frogs sit on logs and (unfortunately for this particular frog) dogs sit on frogs. Squish!

As we move in to book two we see the feisty frog choosing to rebel. He disagrees wholeheartedly with the current rules so sets about making some of his own.

Mon
03 ^rd

Ivy’s Guest Book: Sakina Ballard, Founder, Tranquil Birth

Posted by Shelley Edwards - 2 Comments

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family

I’m Sakina. Mum of 2 boys, 7 and 4 living in South London. I’m a Hypnobirthing teacher and Birth Trauma Resolution Practitioner which I became passionate about after becoming a mother. I have always loved reading in my life and sharing books with my kids has brought so much joy and connection to my days as a mother. In those early years at home sometimes at a loss of what to do, a good book and a cuddle on the sofa would transform our day and reconnect us.

Thu
04 ^th

The Way Home For Wolf By Rachel Bright & Jim Field

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We were lucky enough to receive an advance copy of this lovely new story which is out today in the UK and we’ve been looking forward to sharing it with you. We’re big fans of Rachel Bright and Jim Field’s previous collaborations (‘The Lion Inside’ is in our all-time top five!) and fortunately this new title is just as good!

The heartwarming tale is about a little wolf cub called Wilf who is extremely strong-willed and independent. He wants to do everything by himself and he wants to do it right now – which will sound very familiar to any parent with a toddler!

When his wolf pack is forced to leave their cave, Wilf wants to lead the expedition to find a new home. But the little wolf soon discovers that life in the wilderness is much tougher than it looks and he finds himself lost in a storm. Too proud to call for help he sits alone on the ice, which at that very moment begins to crack. It looks as though all hope is lost but then a friendly face appears from the depths.

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